The Face of Reality
by Writingprocrastinator
Summary: "Uncle Dumbledore, will you tell us a story today?" Lily asked. "What type of story do you want?" Dumbledore smiled. "A very scary one." Takes place in the Muggle world. No magical elements whatsoever.


**A/N: I do not own any of the characters from Harry Potter. (I'm not supposed to clarify anything else, right?)**

It was a normal day at a typical normal house, I thought to myself as I entered the house. Ginny was cooking my little Lily's favorite dishes; there were party decorations all around the house and Lily herself seemed to be jumping up and down with excitement. The aroma of delicious food wafted all around the house, making my mouth water.

"Happy 4th Birthday, Hon," I leaned down to kiss Lilly on the cheeks as she once again giggled with excitement.

"Da-ad," Lily whined, "James and Albus are not letting me in their room and Mum won't let me in either!"

I grinned, realizing that James and Albus were still working on her present and decided to distract her.

"I'll let you in on a secret, Lily," I whispered as I leaned down next to her ear. "Professor Dumbledore will be visiting you today."

At once I saw Lily's distraught face turn into one of excitement and anticipation. Professor Dumbledore's visits to our houses were really rare nowadays, him traveling to a lot of countries for work. The children had grown really fond of Professor Dumbledore's visits, or you could say fond of the stories Professor Dumbledore told them. And Lily, despite being only four, knew that the professor's visits were to be treasure wholeheartedly.

"Now why don't you go and play outside with your friends and show them your new dress?"

Lily nodded, her face split into a Cheshire grin and ran off.

I went into the kitchen and tried to dip my finger into the layer of blancmange in Ginny's trifle, failing horribly.

"What was that for?" I exclaimed, rubbing the spot of my hand where Ginny's wooden spoon had hit.

Ginny giggled. "I do wish you'd stop acting like a kid all the time, Harry. It's Lily's birthday, not yours."

I pouted. But before I could protest, Albus and James came running out, announcing that they had finally finished her present and were going out to play.

I decided to go watch some TV and ignore my rumbling tummy. There were sudden excited squeals when came into the living room to see the children hugging Professor Dumbledore, their body's only reaching his knees.

"Will you tell us a story today, Uncle? Will you? Will you please?" Lily was asking him. Dumbledore chuckled.

"Have I ever not, dear Lily?"

"I want a scary story today." Lily decided.

"A scary story?" Dumbledor asked, his eyebrows raised.

"Uh-huh. A very scary one. A hur... her…"

"A horror story?" Dumbledore asked, smiling gently.

"Yes. The scariest one."

"Alright then. Today's bedtime story will be a scary one." Dumbledore's eyes had crinkled with a smile.

It was a great birthday dinner. Satisfied with all the laughter and food, I went to watch some TV. Dumbledore was just coming out of the children's bedroom, with a smile on his face, the quiet in the house showing the children were already fast asleep.

We all settled down on the sofa, lazily flicking through the channels and settling down on the news. I let the droning voice of the news report drown me to sleep when…

Screams. Gun shots.

I jumped and realized that the sounds were emitting from the TV, where Ginny and Dumbledore had frozen, their eyes glued to the TV Screen.

"36 people were shot dead today at the massacre in a cinema at Aurora, Colorado where a gunman set of tear gas, grenades and open-fired in the movie theatre… Reporting live from the scene..."

More cries of pain floated in as the camera turned to a woman.

"Somebody help him. Please. _Please. _SOMEBODY HELP MY BOY! HE'S STILL IN THERE!"

Hysterical screams. More pain. More gunshots. Fear.

I quickly switched the channel. To another news channel.

"Reporting live from Japan, Bertha Jones talks to the victims of the Earthquake…"

The camera switched to a couple, their pained cries filled the house as they were surrounded by more and more debris, stained with a dark liquid…

The rubble, from which two little feet poked out, dried and bloodied.

"The couple here had to choose between their son and daughter, who were both trapped in the heavy rubble. The rescuers had told them of their terrifying dilemma when the debris had been impossible to lift off them both. This is the reality of the victims, the horrifying truth. Let's all take a moment of silence to commemorate the victims of the Japan Earthquake."

I switched off the TV.

I closed my eyes and tried to get the screams of pain, horror and desperation out of my head. I tried to forget them, but it seemed the more I tried, the more deeply they were etched into my brain, my memory. I looked at the peaceful sleeping faces of my children, wondering when they'd grow up to realize what was going through our minds. I knew that, at that moment, as I looked into the passive faces of Professor Dumbledore and Ginny, we were all thinking the same thing…

There wasn't any horror story worse than reality itself.


End file.
